New Newspaper Launches in Montana’s Flathead Valley. The Flathead Beacon

Maury Povich, Connie Chung and team of University of Montana grads create the Flathead Beacon

The Flathead Beacon, a new weekly newspaper and daily online publication, makes its debut this week – on the Net at http://www.FlatheadBeacon.com, and in print with some 50,000 copies being distributed across the Flathead Valley.

The Beacon is one of the most ambitious new publications ever launched in Montana. Its mission is to offer balanced, in-depth coverage of all aspects of life in the Flathead Valley, and to bring real-time news, multimedia, and engaging online conversation to the community via the Web.

The proprietor of the Flathead Beacon is television personality Maury Povich, who with his wife Connie Chung has had a home in Bigfork, Montana for more than 10 years.

"The caring residents of the Flathead have opened their hearts to the Povich and Chung family," said Povich. "Since Connie and I have spent our entire careers in the media, we wanted to give back to the people of the Flathead Valley our appreciation. What better way than using our experience in journalism to bring to the citizens of Northwest Montana a publication filled with meaningful news about those events that will indeed affect the lives of everyone living here."

Povich has assembled an outstanding team of young journalists and publishing professionals to create the Beacon. The publisher is Tom Donnelly, a University of Montana grad and former Frenchtown resident with a deep backround in many aspects of the publishing business. The editor in chief is Kellyn Brown, also a University of Montana grad and the former city editor of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Jonathan Weber, founder and publisher of Missoula-based NewWest.Net, also played a key role in managing the creation and launch of the Beacon.

"The direction of the Beacon is not left or right – it’s forward," said Donnelly. "We are bringing Media 3.0 innovations to the residents and businesses of the Flathead Valley."

The Beacon will be distributed for free every Wednesday at locations across the Flathead Valley – with the premier issue being mailed to all households in the area. The FlatheadBeacon.com will feature breaking news every day, as well as photo, video, multimedia and an online events calendar. Local pages on FlatheadBeacon.com will focus on the individual communities of the Flathead, and the site offers many ways for people to interact and share their ideas.

Stories in the first issue include a look at the disputed Cline coalmine proposal just north of the border in Canada, an analysis of the changing job market and what it means for young professionals, and a profile of the new athletic director at Whitefish High School. A sports page (which reads from the back of the paper), a movie page (created in partnership with RottenTomatoes.com), an opinion page, and an events calendar will be standing features of the print publication.

The Beacon offices are located on Main Street in downtown Kalispell.

Tom Donnelly

Publisher

Flathead Beacon

A Media 3.0 Company